Our Candle of Hope
by MidnightPaladin
Summary: 'It was on a moonlit night like this… that I set out from my home and onto my journey.' a young swordsman muses, as he leans on the beam of a balcony and reminisces on the events leading up to his current life... in addition to be reminded of why he's who he is today. One shot with Els x Aisha and a hint of Raven x Rena.


**When you bring together both an Elsword fan with a lot of spare time and a fanfiction reader, you get this as its production. First attempt at a fanfiction, as well as the first work I've ever written, enjoy this little one-shot folks.**

**Free Phoru cookies to anyone that's able to identify any of the references that I put in this story and where they came from.**

**Elsword: Lord Knight (Age 16)**

**Aisha: Elemental Master (Age 18)**

**Rena: Grand Archer (Age Unknown)**

**Raven: Blade Master (Age 27)**

**Eve: Code Empress (Age Unknown)**

**Chung: Tactical Trooper (Age 16)**

**Disclaimer: Elsword and it's repected franchise belongs to KOG and Kill3R Combo.**

* * *

A set of footsteps make their way down a hall as a figure walks silently, intent on making sure he does not awaken his fellow roommates… or slumber buddies, as one of them likes to put it. The sound of footsteps ceased as the figure stops in front of a set of double doors, allowing a small –click- to resonate as he lifts the lever on the door's locking mechanism. Swinging the double doors open, while mumbling a small curse and making a mental note to oil the hinges in the morning, the figure steps out onto the balcony of a moderate two-story building.

_'It was on a moonlit night like this… that I set out from my home and onto my journey.'_

It was a thought that the sixteen year old Elsword could not help but silently muse. The evening was a fairly tranquil night, as one can describe it bluntly. The presence of a full moon gave off a good deal of light as it illuminated the land, giving the area a majestic glow. As the Lord Knight leaned onto the balcony rims, red hair swayed in synchronization with the passing breeze while the swordsman gazed at the gentle swinging of the trees nearby. To anyone but the person leaning on the balcony, it would be hard to imagined that the land that held such tranquility was ravished by destruction and plagued by dark forces just months ago.

Elsword could not help but let out a soft chuckle at that certain irony. Prior to several months ago, a final battle to decide on the well-being of the capital of Hamel occurred that had left a lasting strain on Elsword's body. The Lord Knight wouldnever forget how close to death he had come while fighting against Ran, where his mind was sent to the brink of its limits trying to consistently maneuver against the endless strikes from the Demon general.

_'The quietness is so calming… that it's almost too surreal to think that this is real right now'_

The young knight shifts his gaze downwards at the railing of the balcony. Placing his hands on the wood, Elsword gives the railing a gentle pat as he feels the sturdiness of the architecture. Following the victory against the demon army at Hamel, the young band of fighters was graced with a hero's welcome by both capitals of Velder and Hamel. Elsword, along with the rest of his companions, could not believe their fortune when they were presented with a house in the private districts of Velder in recognition for their services during the war.

'_When we got back, I had expected some sort of praise for helping out Velder and Hamel. I never would've thought that they would actually give us our own house… especially one that's in such a nice place_.' Elsword let out a small laugh as he thought back to that certain day. After the initial shock wore off from the Velder official's announcement, everyone had erupted in cheers of joy. Even Eve, the stoic and deadpanned queen of the Nasod, gave a small smile. What Elsword had not expected, though, was to see Raven with the most panicked expression to ever cross his face. It was after he remembered about Raven's past issues with Velder that Elsword had let out a laugh, completely amused at the rare change in Raven's usual serious demeanor. The Blade Master had spent that entire day with a cold sweat and was very uncomfortable with the aspect of living in Velder once again. It had took all of Rena's abilities to reassure Raven in a loving manner that the people of Velder would not attempt to do anything to him while he was asleep, much to the amusement of the rest of the party.

'_Both Chung and I couldn't stop teasing Raven for a week straight. We probably could've kept it up too, if Rena didn't send both Eve and Ophelia to slap us both_' though the Lord Knight, as he subconsciously rubs his cheek. _'But that's just how Rena is, always looking out for us no matter what the circumstance.'_

The present day Lord Knight would probably have never associated the Grand Archer that he now knew as the elven lady that he had met three years ago in Ruben. Body bruised and filled with anger, the thirteen year old Elswordhad held no regard for the lost elf when she tried to question him as he was more concerned with snapping back at the "stupid and idiotic purple-headed freak who didn't know how to shut the hell up and leave people alone".Tremendous fear and shock silenced both Aisha and Elsword when the elf snapped after enduring most of their bickering, resulting in the image of a demonic and evil elven lady crossing their minds. Had Rena not recollected herself with a bright smile, both youths would have been scarred for years to come.

_'When Hagus told the other two to go with me to get the El back, I was scared as hell whenever I looked at Rena during the first three days of our travels.' _Elsword thought with a grimace. The image of a demonic Rena had not left the young Elsword's mind as they left Ruben village. Elsword distinctively remembered how it was the first time he was forced to remain quiet for such a prolonged period of time, as multiple conversations would spark a conflict between him and Aisha. It was with each time that this occurred that Elsword was forcefully remind of how scary Rena could become, often instantly silencing both of them whenever the elven lady became irritated. This had continued all the way until they arrived at Elder village, just before…

_"Aisha, Elsword… I won't let you two die… I'll protect you two if it's the last thing I do"_

Those were the very words that allowed the young Elsword to see Rena in a new perspective. The search for the El had paved way towards the discovery of Wally's mingling with Nasod technology and also the plan to use Ruben's El to power up his project. Confrontation with Wally's Nasod ended with severe injuries for the group, as Rena stood in front of the barely conscious Elsword and Aisha. Witnessing Rena's resolve to protect them brought a motherlyfeel to both of the youths, a feeling of comfort and warmth. The invigorated Elsword and Aisha, wanting to also protect the mother figure in front of them, to rise and successfully destroy Wally's Nasod.

_'Granted, I was scared of her initially. But, until that day, I didn't know just how strongly she cared for us. She's always been like a… mother to us. It was because of her guidance that we could have hoped to survive in the wilderness. It was because of her closeness that we became better friends with each other. It was because of her kindness… that we became friends with Raven and Eve.' _Elsword adjusted his position on the balcony, shifting to place his elbow on the railing and resting the side of his head on his left palm.

It was the first time that Elsword had met someone like Raven. The plan that he had conjured in Bethma at the time was simple: infiltrate Wally's airship, clear out whoever was on the airship, locate where the El was stored, and use the airship to fly the El back to Ruben. What the group had not expected was the arrival of the Black Crow mercenaries, who both destroyed Wally's airship and snatched Ruben's El from Wally's airship. It was only at the last second that Aisha had teleported them onto the ship that wasn't destroyed.

_'I was… pretty stupid to think that the plan would go _that_ smoothly. Hell, we were on the enemy's ship for El's sake. But… even if that was true, we would've never expected Raven and… the technology that he had.'_

Metallic, was the first thing that cross the group's mind when they first saw the leader of the Black Crow mercenaries. Rather than skin, the left arm of the leader was lined fully with black metal attached to five metallic… fangs, which served as the fingers instead. Rena's identification of the arm to be of Nasod technology did not further help in relaxing the Sword Knight, who stared at the arm with relative unease. Battling the hybrid being proved to be a gruesome task, with the ability of the leader to excel in both physical and ranged combat through his blade and the artillery from his Nasod arm. With the Sword Knight in a stalemate against the older male, it took both the Sniping Ranger and the High Magician nearly all of their strength to compile a magic-infused attack that successfully knocked down the hybrid.

_'It's almost funny, how Rena once lectured me not to solve something simply by hitting it brute force. And then she had to go and do the same thing to Raven. She was just lucky as hell that the blast was able to snap Raven from the Nasod's control'_

The sight of scrap metal presented itself to Elsword after he recollected himself from the Black Crow airship's crash against the side of a mountain. Finding Aisha underneath a pile of rubble, the two youths eventually discovered Rena with a fairly bruised Black Crow Leader. Eyeing the hybrid wryly, it was with some questioning from Elsword that the leader revealed himself as Raven, a man burden with his past and confined to the will of the arm he has. It was great hesitation that Raven even unraveled the death of his fiancé to the events of his arm's creations and ultimately to the mass destruction he had caused from the arm's mind control. Rena had merely eyed Raven with a smile.

_"The past is the past, Raven. What matters aren't the problems that you've had; it's how you move on with it. If it's your arm that's forcing you to be evil, then fight it. You can right your wrongs if you try… it's not too late for redemption, you know"._

_'Heh… Rena makes some of the weirdest choices sometimes. Woman's intuition, go figure'_ thought Elsword with a smile. _'But… even if I didn't believe that Raven would become a good guy just like that, Rena was right in the end.' _The Ponggos living on the island of Altera, which Rena had identified due to the closeness of the clouds, were able to install a pseudo stabilizer on Raven's arm to "tranquilize" the effects it had on older male. It was with a great dedication that Raven aimed to both repay the Ponggos for the trouble he had caused them as well as personally train the young Elsword in physical combat.

_'Today, my experience with my sword is almost at… Elesis' level. But were it not for Raven, I would've never lived long enough to see the El brought back to Ruben. For that matter, I would've never lived to save the El in the first place.'_

With injuries restored, the Sword Knight returned to his training regimen almost immediately and completely unaware of a raven-haired male monitoring him. It was only after a surprise attack from Raven and Elsword's inability to deflect the attack that the elder male offered lessons on both offensive and defensive sword combat. Elsword stubbornly refused until Raven was able to identify multiple errors in the Sword Knight's method of combat and ways to correctly improve said flaws, both of which caused a reluctant and irritated red-head to begin a two-week long training session with the elder male.

_'Just like how Rena's a mother figure, Raven was so much like a father figure. I was the only sword-wielder in our group before then, but having Raven in the group with his influence allowed me to improve greatly… both in skill and personality. If not for the techniques he taught me beforehand, I would have never survived against the Nasod King.'_ With that thought, Elsword visibly cringed and momentarily narrowed his eyes by just a bit. _'It's stupid. I still can't believe the fact that even with the training I had, and even with our victory over the Nasod King, I still couldn't stop my stupid self from being slapped in the face'._

The last known Nasod of the ancient world would awaken that day. It had been several hours after the explosion which was triggered from the Nasod King's shutdown that ultimately forced the group's decision to flee the Altera Core. With means to return to both find and retrieve the stolen El, the group re-entered the former King's chamber and stumbled upon a corridor that was revealed by the blast. With a small amount of light provided by Aisha's illumination spell, it was around several minutes later that the group descended up a flight of stairs and emerged into a clearing. Disbelief had ranged out at the sight of trees within the Altera Core and furthermore was the surprise from the group when Elsword spotted a human-sized capsule.

_'That was the day we discovered and woke up Eve… the very example of a true Nasod.'_ For the second time, the Lord Knight reached to subconsciously rub his cheek. The exclamation of a sleeping girl from Elsword triggered the Nasod's initiation program and her start up. As Elsword turned back to face the -supposedly- sleeping Nasod, the Sword Knight was met with an intense pain and found himself lying face first on the ground.

_"Insolent fool! I shall not be regarded as a 'sleeping girl' as you have just called me. It is 'queen' that you shall address me as!"_

The awakened Nasod's name was Eve. As Rena came to find out, the female was the queen of the Nasods during ancient times and was in hibernation in order to power the Nasod King, who was programed to rebuild the Nasod empire in her absence. It was to Eve's dismay when Rena relayed the Nasod King's destruction to the queen in addition to the details concerning his… its tyrannical rule over Altera.

_'Being a mere robot as I believed at the time, I couldn't believe that this 'queen' could be so human like. She had even shown signs of sadness and anger when Rena told her what happened.'_ Elsword let out a small chuckle. _'But, Rena being Rena, she wasted no time in comforting Eve.'_

With the entire Nasod race gone and her plans to properly rebuild her kingdom, Eve requested to travel along with Elsword's group under the reasoning that "experiencing the world and how it has changed may serve to provide me with useful data that I can utilize for the revival of my race"_. _Rena had immediately agreed and cheerfully encouraged Eve to travel with her. That was also the beginning of Rena's antics with Aisha.

_'The Eve that we know today… is only here because of the efforts of Rena. If she didn't get the queen to interact so much with the human world, we would still have a Nasod bent purely on the revival of her race today.'_

The return of the group to the Ponggo society was only the first step of Rena's shenanigans. The Lord Knight remembered with amusement as he witnessed Eve being dragged around by Rena to multiple establishments in an attempt to show Eve "how to have fun". Initially, the Nasod queen replied harshly to the elf that such activities were utterly useless to her mission. It was much to Rena's fortune that Eve held an emotion unit chip that gave the stoic Nasod more human like qualities than she would have preferred having, which had ultimately allowed her to warm up to Rena in the long run and accept the emotions that she was developing.

_'Being friendly and open to everyone that she meets… that's something that makes Rena such great person to be around. She had done the impossible by befriending two people… or, rather, one person and a Nasod, when anyone else would have simply carried on with their lives. It didn't surprise me when she did the exact same thing in Feita with Chung.'_

The Lord Knight recalled the first moment when he met the blonde male in an unexpected turn of events where Chung had saved the lives of Elsword and his companions. A year prior to Hamel's liberation, the group remained settled in Feita after agreeing to assist the Velder commander Lento with the cluster of demons situated at the Feita shrine. At least, that remained true for some members of the group while the others were immensely intimidated by Bethma's sheriff, who initially requested for the help. When the group first arrived, it was to their dismay that their counterattack on the demon forces proved to be fairly mediocre with how -as Elsword had put it- ginormous the size of the demon army was. It was only after fighting for a week long that the demon army began to dwindle and the liberators were able to carve a path and access the shrine's entrance and later on the shrine's spiral corridors. It was only after this was accomplished that Rena noticed a hallway which led to a set of large doors locked by steel chains. Both Aisha and the Feita alchemist Allegro were able to pry away the chains, which were discovered to have been held together by a sealing rune, and allowed the rest of the party to enter what seemed like a chapel.

'_I was surprised when we walked into that room to find nobody there, not even a single one of those monsters. I guess we were all stupid for falling into a trap that was pretty damn obvious'_

The group ventured into the underground chapel only to emerge into a room with a large rune carved onto the ground. The moment the entire party had stepped into the room, the rune gave off a dark glow as everyone became pinned to the ground. What had appeared afterwards was a demonic spirit, and a necromancer as Aisha had identified, that introduced itself as Amethyst. It had prepared to fire something at Lento's men before a flash occurred from the corridor behind the group and a cluster of explosives flew across the air, all of which struck the spirit and erupted.

_"I guess it was pretty lucky that I showed up when I did, wasn't it?"_

The gravity pinning the group lifted and everyone turned to see ablondwho was cladded in full-body armor, with a ridiculously large cannon by his side. Introducing himself as Chung, the blonde explained his journey to pursue the demons invading Elrios and subsequently stopped at the shrine to aid the Feita troops. Rena welcomed the cannon-wielder with open arms and even asked Chung to join their group, to which the Shelling Guardian agreed with a smile.

_'The firepower from his cannon is so strong that it's almost scary. But… I'm glad we met him. If not for Chung, we wouldn't have plowed through the demon forces like we did back then'_ thought Elsword, before a small smirk appeared on his face. _'And especially if not for Chung, I wouldn't have had a friend with who I could have fun with.'_ More than once had Elsword enacted a couple of pranks with Chung's help, most of which were directed towards Aisha. The High Magician could never figure out who was causing her trouble due to the nature of the pranks, but she always held her suspicions towards a certain red-head. It wasn't until Chung had accidentally tipped a vial during one of their pranks that revealed their mischief, for it caused a fairly large explosion that left the Sword Knight's hair singed and the Shelling Guardian's hair zapping with streaks of electricity for the rest of the day.

_'Aisha…'_

Elsword gave off a warm sigh of breath. To the swordsman, the mage was undoubtedly the single most exasperating person he has ever met over the course of his three years traveling. It had been three years since the Lord Knight first came face to face with his advisory, a demon general by the name of Berthe that he had slain with his own hands just a year ago. The situation proved to be different three years prior, with a thirteen year old Elsword left fairly bruised in front of Berthe. It had been the task of the El Scouts to travel to where Ruben's El was held as part of a recon mission after the village's chief discovered a group of bandits planned to steal the village's El. It was with coincidence that the young Elsword found Berthe in possession of El and fought the demon general, only to be batted aside.

_'She claimed to have 'saved' me that day when she shot mere fireballs at Berthe… she had no idea at the time that it did nothing and our lives were only spared because demon didn't feel like wasting time on us.'_ Elsword thought bitterly. It was to Elsword's chagrin that the same mage who he bickered with previously that afternoon would also be tasked by Hagus to travel with him, along with Rena, to recover the stolen El.

_'Back then she was so annoying that it irritated me to no end. Always calling me an idiot… always sticking her nose in whatever I was doing… and always yelled at me for practically no reason. But then again… I was just as childish as she was at the time__'_ Elsword thought with a smile. _'She may have been short tempered as I was at the time, but she had… also cared… probably as much as Rena did.'_

It had been a small ordeal that left Elsword with a different impression of Aisha, much like how the battle at Wally's castle left him with a different impression on Rena. In search for Wally's whereabouts, the group sought out the sheriff named Stella after arriving in the village of Bethma. It had been with difficulty that the group compromised with Stella to assist in Bethma village's problem with the nearby lizardmen tribe in exchange for her cooperation in searching out Wally. With the help from Bethma's alchemist Chacha Buch, the group was able to pinpoint the source of the entire conflict on the sorcery of the shaman Kayak. Battling against the shaman in the heats of a dragon's nest, it was with carelessness that Elsword received a point-blink blast from Kayak's staff that sent him half way across the cavern.

_'I remembered an intense pain coming from my chest… and then I blacked out. The only thing I remembered afterwards was waking up in Bethma's hospital.' _It was a moment that had completed shocked Elsword. It was with difficulty during that morning that the Sword Knight awoke, only to be tackled with a tight hug from someone.

_"Wha-"_

_"You idiot! Don't ever scare me like that ever again!"_

_"A-Aisha…?"_

The Sword Knight was left speechless as the girl who usually harbored irritation towards him was suddenly in such close contact, something that he would have never thought would happen. It was with even greater confusion that since his awakening at the hospital, Elsword received nothing but quiet speeches from Aisha whenever they exchanged words. Fearing for the worst, Elsword approached the High Magician to question her behavior and ended up with the latter expressing how scared she was of the Sword Knight dying in the hospital. It was only with the reassurance of his well-being and some provoking comments that returned the High Magician's usual attitude.

'_At the time, I didn't know what was up with her. But some part of me… just knew that she honestly cared, even with how she acted half of the time. I can't blame her though, what had happened in Velder… caused me to have the same reaction as well'_

It was a monstrosity that the group had not witnessed since the battle against the Nasod King. Upon their arrival at the top pathway of Velder's southern gates, the dark elf Chloe succeeded in activating a summoning rune before escaping. The massive demon… the monstrous Dark Nephilim… it was something that invoked concern within everyone that was present. The concern proved to be a foreshadow, for the Dark Nephilim had used the remainder of its energy before it died to unleashed a stream of chaos energy that spread across the pathway. It was to her misfortune that Aisha could not teleport in reaction to the attack and was sent crashing onto one of the stone arch on the pathway, resulting in a pool of blood forming on her back. A panicked Lord Knight spent the remainder of the night carrying the Elemental Master all the way back to the refugee camp.

'_Seeing her like that… I was so scared that I couldn't think straight. It wasn't until she woke up that I hugged her just as tightly as she did to me in Bethma.'_ A wide grin spreads across Elsword's face as he stood up to gaze at the moon. _'But… I'm glad what happened, happened, even though we both nearly died. It was only because of those two moments that I regard her as a close friend. It was only because of those two moments… that I declar-'_

Footsteps were heard as a pair of silk clad arms reached across the Lord Knight's shoulders, bringing the male into an embrace and breaking his train of thoughts.

"It's past midnight, you know. What are you doing up on the balcony this late at night, Els?"

With a smile, the Lord Knight lifts his hands to hold onto the ones slung over his shoulders. "I couldn't sleep, that's all. I was just thinking over things" Elsword replied.

"A K-Ching for your thoughts?" murmured Aisha.

The Lord Knight turns around, placing his hands around the Elemental Master's waist to draw her closer and rests his head on top of hers. "Maybe in the morning, Aisha. Go back to sleep, I'll follow up in a second or so". The Elemental Master pouted briefly before beginning to walk back into the house.

"Well, hurry up then Els. It's lonely in the room."

"Will do, princess."

Elsword let a small smile show before turning back towards the moon in front of him. _'Rena, Raven, Eve, Chung,… Aisha. I had originally started traveling to recover the El and to find… Elesis. But then I met you guys… and got to know you. With difficult__y, sure, but I got to know you guys. And in return…you gave me your friendship, your care and your love….' _With a final glance, the Lord Knight turned to return to his room.

_'Just like how you guys gave me something to cherish, I'll return the favor. I'll make sure that I protect each and every one of you. I'll make sure that we remain strong and never fall to despair. I'll make sure that no matter what happens in the future… we'll all make it through.'_ With a small click, Elsword closes the balcony doors and pushes the lever down on the locking mechanism.

_'The candle of hope that we lit… that candle won't be put out by anyone. I'll make sure of it.'_

* * *

**My English teacher once told me that the moment I accessed the ideas of other people, it would be difficult to develop my own. So as it stands, I'm uncertain of whether it was wrong if some of the ideas in this fanfiction were influenced by other stories.**

**Regardless, first fanfiction and I crossed the four thousand word mark. I think I did a fairly good job.**

**I believe I did a decent job in portraying the story. I intended it to be a character musing, like the summary suggests, with the intent of the one-shot as the portrayal of Els' relationship to the other characters through his memories. Sadly, outside of romance, I had a difficult time creating a connection between Eve and Els. So if that part was poorly written, as I believe it was, then I apoligize for it.**

**Other than that, leave your reviews and criticism if possible. I would like some insight from the authors of the Elsword archive as to whether or not I should continue writing for this archive, which I hope to do so in the near future.**

**Lunar signing off~**


End file.
